AFRO-NETS> Nigerians Claiming Cure for HIV/AIDS

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Nigerians Claiming Cure for HIV/AIDS
------------------------------------

Dateline Health Nigeria. Supplement No. 01 - 08 April 2000

Of recent some Nigerian medical and traditional healers have claimed to 
have cure for HIV/AIDS. The following is a short profile of a few of 
these people.

1. Jeremiah Ojonemi Alabi ABALAKA, 51, is a 1972 medical graduate of 
the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Northern Nigeria. Born 4th December 
1948 in Ajiyolo Aboko-Oche, Dekina Local Government of Kogi State, 
(Middle belt) Nigeria, Abalaka obtained a post-graduate certificate in 
immunology from Nigeria's premier teaching hospital ð the University 
College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria and is the proprietor and Chief Medi-
cal Director of Medicrest Specialist (private) Hospital in Gwagwalada, 
a satellite town of Abuja. He is said to receive 17 to 90 patients 
daily in his hospital.

He claims variously to have a patented vaccine for the prevention and 
cure of HIV. According to him, he processes the vaccine from blood ob-
tained from infected patients. He does not add any herbs or chemicals 
to the "vaccine". In his words, his processed HIV "vaccine" has a yel-
low colour and it takes him more than 2 hours to work on each sample of 
blood to obtain the vaccine. This is so because he processes his vac-
cines manually he said. Abalaka claims that a dose of his vaccine costs 
about N21,000 per ml. (approx. US$ 250) and after taking up to four 
doses depending on the duration of infection, an infected patient will 
be completely cured of HIV. Rhetorically, he asked: "What do I mean by 
cure?" He answered the question himself saying, "It is when you are re-
verted to anti-HIV antibody negative status and become P24 sero-
negative". Abalaka has achieved celebrity status of sorts in some 
States of Nigeria for his claims. He has so far refused to disclose how 
he prepares his vaccine saying that what matters most is the efficacy 
of his vaccine against HIV/AIDS. The Chief Medical Laboratory Scientist 
at Gwagwalada Specialist Hospital near Abuja agrees. Abalaka claims to 
have vaccinated himself with his HIV vaccine to prevent him from con-
tacting the disease at work. Source: The Guardian, 8 January 2000, p. 
24-25. By Seyi Odewale, and This Day, 1 April 2000, p. 12 ð 15. By Sam-
uel Ajayi. Keywords: Vaccine cure for HIV/AIDS 

2. Edmund OKWORI is another Nigerian physician claiming to have found a 
cure for HIV/AIDS. He is a Consultant Microbiologist at the General 
Hospital, Oturkpo, Benue State, (Middle belt) Nigeria. According to a 
recent sentinel study of HIV/AIDS conducted for the Federal Ministry of 
Health, Benue State has the highest prevalence rate (21%) for HIV/AIDS 
in Nigeria. Okwori is a 1986 medical graduate of Ahmadu Bello Univer-
sity, Zaria, Northern Nigeria. He worked for several years at the Gwag-
walada Specialist Hospital as a medical microbiologist where he was a 
colleague of Dr. Abalaka. 

When asked how he discovered his cure, Okwori said the answer was sim-
ple. "It was through divine revelation" he said. He went on: "I 
searched for a cure, I am a catholic. I used to say five rosary a day, 
but I increased this to fifteen. I was attending mass everyday, receiv-
ing Holy Communion and putting everything before God. For more than a 
year, I was doing this until one day when I was directed by the spirit 
to go to the Bible, that what I wanted was in the Bible. I thought it 
was a joke", he went on further to say. "I started reading from Genesis 
until I got to Leviticus 26 and I discovered the origin of HIV. It is a 
punishment from God for our disobedience. It is stated around verse 14 
or so, that the punishment for disobedience is that God would send to 
the Israelites an incurable disease, which would waste them away. I 
then said this must be the problem. I continued to read. Every morning 
I go to mass, say my rosary until I got to the book of Numbers. In the 
book of Numbers, there is a place where Israelites, because of their 
stubbornness and disobedience spoke against God and Moses. God then 
sent snakes to deal with them and they were dying. They discovered that 
they have offended God and Moses and so they apologized and repented. 
God, being very loving, very patient and lenient forgave them and in-
structed Moses to go and make a metal snake and hang it. Anybody that 
was bitten by snake and looked at the metal snake will be saved and 
cured. So when I reached that point, the spirit of God now told me that 
I have got my answer for HIV/AIDS". Thus, Okwori arrived at his formula 
for the cure of HIV/AIDS. When pressed as to how his formula is turned 
into a vaccine, he declined to disclose his trade secret, saying, "It 
is through a methodology I cannot disclose now".

Does Okwori's drug really work? "Yes" he says, emphasizing that he has 
already established that. "I have a cure for HIV infection. I am now 
undertaking trials for AIDS with those who have come with advanced 
cases. I am getting some positive results but it is very tasking, be-
cause you have to spend a lot of time and a lot of money too". "I am 
sure I can clear the HIV infection from the body within four to six 
weeks" says Okwori. He sees no less than 6 HIV/AIDS patients daily and 
he went further to say that at least 15 ð 20 people test positive for 
HIV every week at the General Hospital, Oturkpo where he works. Source: 
The Guardian on Saturday, 18 March 2000. p. 18 -19. By Tunji Bolaji. 
Keywords: Bible and origin of HIV/AIDS. AIDS cure

3. Onjefu ODEH, 65, a Nigerian herbalist, has also announced his own 
discovery for HIV/AIDS. He lives in Oturkpo-Icho village. By Odeh's ac-
count, he has cured over 25 persons infected with HIV/AIDS. He claimed 
to have been working for seven years and that it took him two years to 
certify the curative effect of his herbs on AIDS. According to him, his 
first cure or patient was a friend of his, who came home pale, cough-
ing, emaciated and looking very sickly. "I told him to collect roots of 
spear grass. He did, prepared the herb and took it for three months 
with his wife and was cured", he said. Odeh disclosed that he could im-
munize against HIV/AIDS with 12 different batches of herbs Source:The 
Guardian on Saturday, 18 March 2000. p. 19. By Tunji Bolaji. Keywords: 
Herbal cure for HIV/AIDS

4. Felix I.O.E. AMANYA is another Nigerian claiming to have a cure for 
HIV/AIDS. He is an alternative medical practitioner. He recently ap-
pealed to the Federal Government to provide him with N20 billion (about 
US$ 200 million) to enable him build a hospital complex where he could 
continue to cure the dreaded disease. Amanya claims to have been 
trained in China in traditional Chinese medicine and pharmacology. He 
identified his wonder drug for AIDS as "Kasa Boom Boom" The drug ac-
cording to him "could restore 'TD4' lymphocyte count in peripheral 
blood to normal level within three weeks of being administered on a pa-
tient". He is of the view that his drug was better than the Anti-
retroviral therapy (ART) that is currently used in the management of 
HIV/AIDS throughout the world. Amanya claimed that Federal authorities 
snubbed him recently when he requested for AIDS patients to be treated 
by him in confirmation that his drug works. He added that the authori-
ties instead asked him to submit his drug to them for laboratory test-
ing and if confirmed to be useful as a cure for AIDS, he would be paid 
N150,000 (about US$ 1,500) and the drug will be owned by the Federal 
Government. Source: The Punch. 8 January 2000. p.11, Busola Joel. Key-
words: Wonder cure for HIV/AIDS

5. Jacob ABDULLAHI is yet another Nigerian claiming to have a cure for 
HIV/AIDS. Like Abalaka, he is from Kogi State (Middle belt) Nigeria. He 
is a staff of the Federal School of Medical Laboratory Technology in 
Kogi State. He claims to have cured about 600 HIV/AIDS patients between 
1998 to date. His drug extracted from an undisclosed dried plant using 
hot water achieved this feat. The drug has been code named "Winnie 
cure". According to Abdullahi, patients with confirmed cases of 
HIV/AIDS took the drug for only five weeks and were cleared of all 
traces of the disease. He further affirmed that the plants used for his 
drug are available in Nigeria during the raining season. He stated that 
he has received a patent for his drug. Source: The Punch. 2 March 2000. 
p. 5, By. Garba Yedimakudor. Keywords: Plants and cure for HIV/AIDS

Notwithstanding these diverse claims, the Federal Government has warned 
all Nigerians to ignore all recent claims of AIDS cure advising all 
HIV/AIDS patients to always report at government hospitals for testing 
and treatment. 

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